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by Kishiro Kitsune
Summary: Gilbert has a secret he refuses to share with anyone; not even his best friends. He really loves gaming videos. But when he has the rare opportunity to meet his favorite gamer, will he be able to find the courage to go through with it?
1. Chapter 1

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Gilbert had a problem.

No, not a problem. An addiction. And just when he thought he was getting over it, he'd find himself sucked right back in, his eyes glued to the screen, volume turned up just enough that he could hear everything perfectly, but not blow out his eardrums when a loud sound burst free.

For some reason, his friends had come to the conclusion that he was in love and that was the reason he would stare at his phone like a dope for long periods of time. They kept trying to catch him off guard and press him for details about his mystery crush.

Gilbert was starting to run out of excuses.

Okay, so he could just tell them. It would be the easiest way to get them to stop, but he was a little too embarrassed to do so. His friends would only make fun of him if he knew he was obsessed with gaming videos.

It was one of those rare days when his friends weren't badgering him about his nonexistent love life, though he knew it wouldn't take much of a leap for Francis to sway the subject from the upcoming fall semester to one of the romantic variety. Antonio would roll right along with the change and then help dig them deeper into it.

"You're taking a foreign language this year, yes?" Francis questioned, giving Gilbert a sidelong glance.

"Yeah. German," Gilbert replied, staring straight ahead. The sooner they got to the bookstore, the sooner he could escape from his friends. He loved them, really, but there were times when they were just too much for even his awesome self to handle.

On his other side, Antonio made a concerned sound. "That won't be too boring for you, would it? Since you already know a little German?"

Gilbert shrugged noncommittally. "I haven't spoken or written any since I was a kid. Pops and Ludwig kept telling me I should, but I've forgotten most of it by now."

"You could always take French. Then I'd be able to help you if you needed it," Francis offered. "And it _is_ the language of love. What better way to woo your sweetheart?"

Gilbert scowled. "I'm not trying to _woo_ anyone. Give it a rest, Bonnefoy."

At the use of his last name, Francis backed off and instead switched to teasing Antonio about his crush on the angry Italian man who worked at the bookstore they were on their way to. All that resulted in was Antonio pretending to swoon at the mere mention of his crush.

Gilbert threatened to leave him in the street if he fainted, but Antonio just laughed and skipped ahead as _Vargas Books and Cafe_ came into sight.

Francis and Gilbert grinned at their friend's behavior. Neither of them truly understood why he liked the cranky Italian so much, but they both knew his feelings were genuine. They also knew that, no matter how much Lovino Vargas complained about Antonio's affections, he liked him back just as much.

As always, the three went their separate ways once they were inside. Francis headed straight for the romance section to browse for anything new and interesting to read. Antonio set off in search of his crush. Meanwhile, Gilbert made his way to the tiny cafe tucked in the front left corner, where his younger brother's boyfriend worked.

"Good morning, Gil!" Feliciano Vargas cheerfully greeted, his amber eyes lighting up. "You want the usual, right?"

Gilbert nodded and sat down in his usual chair. While waiting for his drink and pastry, he pulled out his phone to check for any messages. (Just one, from Ludwig, reminding him to pick up a few essential food items on his way home.) After that it was a simple task of connecting to the wifi and making sure no one else was around to see him log onto his HetaTube account.

He bit his lip to keep himself from smiling too widely when he saw that his favorite gamer had posted two new videos since he last checked the night before. Gilbert glanced up to see if Feliciano noticed his sudden burst of happiness, but the man was busy measuring out the exact amount of milk needed in his frappuccino.

Pleased that he hadn't been caught, Gilbert casually tugged his earbuds out of his pocket and plugged them in. As he began loading the first video, he couldn't help but think of the very first time he'd watched a gaming video. He'd been sitting in the cafe, in that same exact spot, chatting with one of his internet pals about video games, when his pal recommended a series of videos about two brothers playing horror games.

Gilbert had been doubtful at first. After all, wasn't it much more fun to play the games than to watch someone else do it?

One video became five and then twenty as Gilbert became a bit infatuated with the older of the brothers, a young man going by the name _MapleMatthew_. Thanks to the face-cams they used to record their hilarious reactions to jump scares, Gilbert knew he had gently wavy blond hair and big purplish-blue eyes, which were always partially hidden behind oval-framed glasses.

Okay, maybe his friends were right. He did have a crush. But it just a stupid, tiny little thing on a person he knew he'd never meet, so why bother entertaining the idea?

"Gil, your coffee and muffin!" Feliciano chirped, setting both on the counter.

Gilbert thanked him and got up, spending a few extra seconds chatting with his future brother-in-law (it wasn't official, but Gil knew Ludwig would pop the question before too long), and then returned to his seat. He took a moment to listen for any angry yelling, which would mean that Lovino was about to kick them all out. He heard nothing but the sound of Feliciano bustling about and knew he'd have time to get through at least one video.

The first upload was a continuation of an RPG MapleMatthew had recently gotten into. It was a game Gilbert normally wouldn't have looked twice at, but the blond's enthusiasm and clear passion for the series had him actually considering going out and picking up the game for himself. Gilbert had to remind himself several times to finish eating and take sips of his coffee.

The video ended too soon for Gilbert's tastes, even though it was nearly a half hour long. He took a moment to guzzle down half of his drink and listen again for any yelling. It was unusual that Antonio hadn't been kicked out yet. It never took Lovino very long to get fed up with the man distracting him from his work.

Gilbert relaxed in his chair and opened the next link. It was labeled: "ANNOUNCEMENT feat pure-originality and King_Mathias".

He only knew vaguely of pure-originality, who'd done a few videos with MapleMatthew and his brother. He was a rather hyperactive Korean teen with an arsenal of inappropriate jokes. King_Mathias was a name which sounded familiar, but Gilbert couldn't place where he'd heard it before.

The video opened with the three HetaTubers sitting on a very familiar brown couch. MapleMatthew sat in the middle and smiled brightly at the camera once he knew it was rolling. "Hello, everyone! MapleMatthew here! And with me today I have two very special guests to help deliver an important announcement."

The dark-haired teen to his left waved wildly. "Hey, guys! I'm pure-originality. Some of you may know me from the games I've played with Matthew and his bro or from my own channel."

"And I'm King_Mathias or DGMathias, whichever you prefer," said the blond to MapleMatthew's right. His accent was distinctly northern European in origin; either Danish or Swedish, if Gilbert had to guess.

"So for a few weeks now, all of us have been hinting about a big project we've all been working on," MapleMatthew said. "You've probably noticed that we've also been doing more joint videos and trying out different games and setups."

King_Mathias cleared his throat. "It's all so we could make sure that working together on a more permanent basis is something we're all willing to do. And surprise! It is!"

"Starting tomorrow, we'll be launching a brand new channel!" Pure-originality announced. "It's called 'Nighttime Gaming'. All of us will post links once we have it up and running. Of course, the three of us aren't the _only_ ones involved in this." He looked to MapleMatthew, who took that as his cue.

"We'll also be joined by CaptainKirkland, LandofRisingSun, and, of course, my brother, SuperHeroUSA," MapleMatthew said. "We've got a lot of interesting and fun things planned, so we hope all of you will like it."

"But not to worry," King_Mathias said. "We're all keeping our personal channels up and running, so if this group thing isn't something you're interested in, that's totally cool."

"So make sure to check out our brand new channel and subscribe if you like it!" Pure-originality said. "We'll see all of you later! Peace!"

The video ended with pure-originality throwing up his signature peace sign, while MapleMatthew and King_Mathias waved at the camera. And then the screen went black.

Gilbert stared at his phone, wondering what exactly they had planned. They'd specifically mentioned that they would still be posting to their personal channels, but that didn't mean it'd be with the same frequency. He'd grown used to at least one video per day, even if it was only a minute or two long. So while the new channel seemed like a cool idea, there was the possibility that it meant he'd be seeing less of his favorite HetaTube gamer.

"Hi, Al!" Feliciano's voice rang out as he greeted a new customer.

"Yo, Feli! Hey, can I get one of your hot chocolates for me and one of those, um, frap-whatevers for Mattie? Oh, and Yong Soo wants one of those chocolate cupcakes. Actually, that sounds really good. I'll take one too!"

Feliciano laughed. "No problem! Just give me a few minutes and I'll have it all ready for you!"

"Cool!"

Gilbert frowned. There was something familiar about that voice...

"Hey, so me and the guys are doing this drunk gaming thing on Friday and we need a few more people, so I figured I'd ask you and then you could ask Ludwig. He likes beer, right?"

Ah, so it was one of Feliciano's and Ludwig's friends. That explained why he sounded so familiar.

"He does, but neither of us really play games," Feliciano said apologetically. "But Gil does! He's right there!"

"Gil? As in Ludwig's bro? That Gilbert?"

"Yeah!"

The blender cut on as Feliciano prepared a second frappuccino.

Gilbert glanced up to get a look at the stranger who knew his brother and immediately froze. His breath caught in his throat and he stared with wide red eyes. Standing at the counter, eyeing him with a strange, contemplative expression, was none other than SuperHeroUSA, the younger brother of MapleMatthew.


	2. Chapter 2

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 _Keep cool, keep cool, keep cool,_ Gilbert frantically reminded himself. He was too awesome to freak out over anything, especially something so silly. Okay, so the thing that was happening to him at that very moment was very close to things that only happened in his wildest dreams. (Well, maybe not _wildest_. Those typically involved dinosaurs or space travel or food coming to life. Or all three.) Luckily, SuperHeroUSA was taking ages to decide whether or not to talk to him, which gave Gilbert plenty of time to compose himself.

"So you're the famous Gilbert," SuperHeroUSA finally said, casually leaning back against the counter. "I hear you're pretty awesome. I'm Alfred, by the way. Alfred F. Jones!"

"Yeah, I'm Gilbert. But, uh, you already knew that. So you play games?" Gilbert could have kicked himself. He sounded lame even to his own ears. So much for keeping cool.

"Yup. With my bro and a couple of our friends," Alfred replied. "I guess you heard we're looking for someone else to join us. Just for Friday, though. We're trying out this big group thing while we do some drinking. Well, not all of us. Mostly all of us. It'll be great!" He paused, giving Gilbert another look over. "They'd probably be cool with me inviting you, since you're Ludwig's brother and all. But first... I wanna see your gaming skills! You got an Xbox?"

Gilbert nodded, no longer trusting himself to speak. He subtly pinched his arm to check if he was dreaming. He wasn't.

Alfred grinned and grabbed a napkin and the pen Feliciano kept next to the register. After jotting something down, he marched over to where Gilbert was sitting and handed over the napkin. "Here. Shoot me a message and I'll put together a game for us. Actually, me and my buddy Kiku are testing a GTA match tonight, probably around seven. You should join us!"

Gilbert could do it. He could come up with an intelligent reply. Probably. "Sounds awesome."

"Great!" Alfred exclaimed.

"Al, your order's ready!" Feliciano called.

The blond happily collected his food and drinks and headed out after bidding Gilbert and Feliciano goodbye. It was shortly after that when the yelling began.

Feliciano unhappily sighed. "Oh, Lovi..."

"Guess that's my cue to get the hell out," Gilbert muttered, standing up to put his phone and earbuds back into his pocket. After a moment of hesitation, the napkin with Alfred's username joined them. "See you later, Feli."

"Bye, Gil! Have fun playing games with Al and the others!"

Gilbert raised his hand in a goodbye wave as he walked away to meet back up with Francis and Antonio at the entrance. Meeting Alfred was one story the two were never going to hear about.

.

* * *

.

Alfred, as it turned out, was the most disorganized person Gilbert had ever met. He couldn't help but wonder how anyone was able to put up with working with him on a near daily basis. Maybe it was _because_ they were around him so much that they were able to manage it. Gilbert wasn't sure if he wanted to find out for himself.

It'd been an hour and a half since he turned on his Xbox One.

Twenty of those minutes had been spent composing the perfect message. (A useless act, since Alfred's response had been 'k cool u got skype?') He spent another good chunk of time running around his house to collect things he needed, as Alfred remembered them. First had been his laptop and webcam, so he could log onto Skype and actually talk instead of slowly punching out messages over Xbox Live. Then there was his journey to the basement to locate the headset he never used. After that, Alfred decided snacks and drinks were a necessity and didn't return for another twenty-five minutes.

Luckily, Gilbert had some company.

"So you're the poor soul Alfred pulled into this mess."

Gilbert looked up from peeling a bit of tape from his headset to see that an unfamiliar man with the bushiest eyebrows he'd ever seen had taken a seat in view of the webcam. Next to that, the distinctly British accent was hardly a surprise.

The man sighed. "I don't imagine he took the time to actually explain what it is we're doing, has he?"

"Something about testing out a game, I think," Gilbert said with a shrug.

"No- well, yes. That _is_ what you're getting ready to do," said the man, sounding frustrated. "What I meant was, has he explained to you exactly what it is we're doing on Friday?"

Gilbert tried to remember exactly how Alfred had put it. "Uh, drunk game night? Or something like that. I know he wanted my bro and his boyfriend, but games aren't really their thing."

The British man tutted softly. "As per usual, he leaves it up to me to properly explain everything. I'm Arthur, by the way."

"Gilbert."

"Pleasure to meet you. Now, you are correct in that we're hosting a sort of drunk game night, though I still say we should have called it Drinking Night or even Bar Night instead."

Very faintly, Gilbert could hear someone shout: _"Drunk Night sounds better!"_

Arthur ignored them. "Originally, it was just going to be the six of us, but then someone suggested we have guests this week, so our first plan was thrown out the window. Now, the thing you need to know is that we will be recording throughout the night. You won't need to worry about getting the proper equipment for yourself, since we have all of that. However, if being filmed isn't something you're comfortable with, let us know now so we can find someone else."

The gears in Gilbert's brain groaned as he worked out what was happening.

Not only was he going to get to play a game with MapleMatthew (and others), he was also going to appear on the new channel so the _whole world_ could see him playing a game with MapleMatthew.

The whole thing made him feel a little faint.

"Of course, that will only happen if we all approve of you," Arthur continued. "Alfred invited you to help test a map created by myself and Mathias. We will be recording the game footage from our end, just so everyone who isn't here will get a chance to see some of what you can do. I would have preferred if Alfred invited you over here, but he didn't think of that."

Again, the voice: _"Not my fault!"_

Arthur turned away from the camera. "Stop bloody yelling, Mathias!"

" _No, you stop!"_

Gilbert tried not to laugh. He got the feeling Arthur wouldn't appreciate it if he did. That and he couldn't be sure he wouldn't throw up the moment he opened his mouth, thanks to the way his stomach was excitedly flip-flopping around.

At least he had all week to get used to the thought of meeting his crush in person. He would be back to his normal, cool and awesome self by Friday. He knew it.

"Oh, well here comes Kiku. At last. He'll be testing the match with you and Alfred," Arthur explained, still looking off screen. "Kiku, come meet Gilbert!"

As Arthur moved away, a familiar face framed by dark hair came into view. It just figured that the person they were talking about was someone he was already familiar with, thanks to his brother and Feliciano.

"Seriously? So how'd you get mixed up in this?" Gilbert asked, eliciting a tiny smile from Kiku. His nerves began to calm down.

"I've been doing this for quite some time, actually," Kiku told him. "This group – the six of us working together, is new to me. I've only done videos with Alfred and Yong Soo. Ah, Yong Soo is another friend of ours. You'll meet him on Friday."

What the actual hell was happening?

How was it that he'd never known Kiku was a Hetatuber? Okay, so Gilbert usually didn't pay that much attention to his brother's friends, but that seemed like the sort of thing that may be mentioned at some point. He totally would have remembered something like that!

"Gilbert, are you alright?" Kiku asked politely.

"I- yeah. I'm awesome, of course!" Gilbert replied, snapping back to his normal self. (Or, at the very least, putting on a good show of it.) "So, are we doing this thing or not?"

Kiku nodded. "Alfred should be back in a moment and then we can begin. Just be prepared. He can be a little... intense."

Gilbert brushed aside the warning with a scoff. "I can't handle it!"

"If you say so..."

.

* * *

.

It didn't take long at all for Gilbert to completely overcome his nerves. One minute he was praying for his internet to not fail, and the next he was laughing loudly as he slammed Alfred's car off the road and down the steep side of the mountain. It gave Kiku the opportunity to zip past him and take the lead, but it was completely worth it as Alfred screamed and his car exploded.

Cackling, Gilbert maneuvered his battered car back onto the road and set off to try and chase down Kiku. The red vehicle struggled up the hill, the bumper barely hanging on.

"C'mon, c'mon," he muttered, staring intently at the screen. He only relaxed when he somehow made it to the top and hit the checkpoint. From there on it was all downhill. Gilbert had barely started to get rolling when something bashed him so hard that he went careening to one side, his breaks squealing loudly, and hit a rock at just the right angle to send him flying into the air. He flipped twice and then landed on the roof of his car and blew up.

Gilbert gaped at the screen, numbly registering the sound of Alfred's increasingly obnoxious laughter and Kiku's quiet questioning.

"Dude!" Alfred gasped for air. "Dude, that was so great! I'm so fucking glad I'm recording. Holy shit. That was one of the greatest things I've ever done!"

"Just you wait. I'll get you back," Gilbert vowed as he respawned at the top of the hill.

"Yeah, but only if you can catch me!" Alfred taunted.

Gilbert grinned as he sped down the hill, occasionally cutting through the grass to try and make better time. "Short cut!" he screamed, going off road to drive up a rocky hill. He launched over the top and, by some miracle, landed right in Alfred's way, causing the blond to swerve right into a tree.

Meanwhile, Kiku crossed the finish line.

Alfred and Gilbert were laughing too much to care as they continued to bump each other all the way to the end.

"Dude, you're pretty cool," Alfred said once they were all done. "You gotta come play with us on Friday, I don't care what anyone else says. Get here around five or so and I'll introduce you to everyone, okay?"

Before Gilbert could answer, Kiku spoke up. "Feliciano has the address, but if you'd like, I can show you the way."

"Thanks, but I'll just get it from Feli," Gilbert said. "So, this Friday? At five?"

"Yeah!" Alfred responded, nodding enthusiastically. "And we've got beer here, but if there's anything else you want, then you'll have to bring that yourself. Same goes for snacks." He looked away from the camera, distracted by someone nearby. "Dude, _what?_

Kiku took over for him. "We'll see you Friday. If you have any questions, you can ask me or Arthur. We'll be happy to help."

"Awesome."

Kiku cut the call just as Alfred was getting up from the couch.

Gilbert slowly began to close out of everything. His high from playing an exciting game was fading, leaving him with the same apprehension he felt before. He needed to talk to someone. But who?

Francis and Antonio were out of the question. And talking to Ludwig was always so awkward. Feliciano was an option, except he would tell Ludwig everything.

Well, there was always Gilbird, his pet canary. He was the best listener Gilbert knew. Plenty of his problems had been solved by sitting in his room, talking to the tiny yellow bird. Plus, Gilbird knew all about his love for Hetatubers! (Especially adorable wavy-haired ones with pretty purple eyes and the tendency to wear flannel.)

Gilbert finished cleaning up and then set off for his room to talk to the one being who always understood.


	3. Chapter 3

The closer it got to Friday, the antsier Gilbert got. He didn't think much of it when Francis noticed. His blond friend was more observant than most people gave him credit for. No, what was truly worrying was that it got to a point where Antonio, reigning king of the oblivious people, started to notice.

The three of them were eating lunch in World University's student lounge, tucked away in their usual corner to avoid being seen by any of Francis's admirers.

Or rather, Francis and Gilbert were eating lunch. Antonio had his out, but instead of enjoying it, he was busy staring at Gilbert as though he was the most interesting thing he had ever encountered. Gilbert quickly grew annoyed by it. Francis, on the other hand, could not have been more amused by the turn of events.

"You look happy about something. Like, _really_ happy," Antonio said. "Kind of like how I was when I first met Lovi."

"That's because he's in love," Francis reminded their friend.

Gilbert opened his mouth to protest, like always, but Antonio was frowning and shaking his head.

"No, that's not it. It's more like... like..." Antonio struggled for a moment to put his thoughts into words. "The anticipation leading up to a date!"

"There's no date!" Gilbert quickly blurted out, his temper rising. "And I'm not in love! I'm just looking forward to this game night thing I was invited to. And that's all!"

Francis snapped his fingers. "Aha! So the one you're in love with will be at this game night!"

Gilbert glared at him.

"Hey. Idiot." A hand came down on the back of Antonio's chair with a soft noise and the brunet craned his head back to see who it was. His green eyes lit up when he saw that it was Lovino Vargas.

Gilbert had never been so happy to see the foul-tempered Italian.

"You left your book at my place. I'm just here to give it back, so don't get any weird ideas!" Lovino said, roughly thrusting a worn paperback at Antonio's face.

Antonio accepted it with a smile. " _Gracias_ , Lovi."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Lovino grumbled. He turned away as though he was about to leave and then changed his mind. Before astonished eyes, he leaned down and gave Antonio a quick kiss on the lips. "Don't forget about tonight," he warned before walking away.

Antonio spent the rest of lunch with a huge smile on his face.

Neither Francis nor Gilbert could bring themselves to question or tease him about the event they just witnessed.

.

* * *

.

By the next morning, Gilbert felt better. He couldn't explain it, but suddenly it was like nothing in the world could go wrong. Small rays of sunlight shone through his dark curtains, which had Gilbird chirping merrily in his cage and the scent of the breakfast Ludwig was cooking wafted through the house.

Gilbert got dressed, fed Gilbird, and then grabbed his bag before hurrying out of his room and down the hall so he could bug his brother as he cooked. He paused when he got to the kitchen and watched Feliciano (who had evidently slept over) dance around the room wearing only a pair of boxers and a shirt that was several sizes too big for him. Gilbert didn't hesitate to get out his phone and take a picture when Feliciano pressed up against Ludwig's side and quietly begged for a kiss. Ludwig gladly obliged.

"Aww, so cute!" Gilbert remarked, stowing his phone out of sight before his brother could notice.

Feliciano turned around and beamed. "Good morning, Gil! You look nice today!"

Gilbert glanced down at what he was wearing. It wasn't anything different from what he normally put on; just a pair of straight legged jeans and his favorite t-shirt with a faded screen print of the Prussian flag. The only difference was that he hadn't pulled them out of the laundry hamper, where he routinely dumped his clean clothes.

"Are you excited about playing games with Al and the others tonight?" Feliciano asked.

Ludwig looked up from cooking. "You know Alfred?"

"Sure. Feliciano introduced us," Gilbert responded. "Which reminds me, you never mentioned that Kiku is involved too. Never pegged him as someone who plays video games."

"Really?" Feliciano asked, blinking owlishly. "But he always has one of those handheld games with him. And he complimented your, um, playstation? The white one?"

"He did?"

Ludwig turned his attention back to breakfast. "I guess this means you'll be back late. I'll leave the light on."

"Awesome!" Gilbert waited a moment, slowly moving closer to the plate of cooling bacon and sausage. The second Ludwig looked away from it was the moment Gilbert pounced, stealing nearly half of it before running off. "Later! I've got to meet Antonio and Francis!"

"Bye~! Have fun!" Feliciano called after him.

.

* * *

.

By noon, Gilbert no longer felt so confident about attending Drunk Night. His nerves had returned in full force and he was very tempted to go beg Kiku's number from Feliciano so he could cancel the whole thing.

"You look ill."

Gilbert barely flinched as his old friend, Elizaveta Hedervary-Edelstein, sat down next to him. "Hey, Liz."

She raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristically docile greeting. "Okay, now I _know_ you're sick. What's going on? And don't say 'nothing', because _Antonio_ was the one who came to find me." Elizaveta paused, studying him for a moment. "You can tell me, you know."

"I don't want to. It's stupid," Gilbert muttered.

Elizaveta rolled her eyes. "Gil, you knew me back when I was convinced I was a boy just because I hated all of the things every girl our age enjoyed. Whatever's bothering you isn't that dumb."

Gilbet was silent for a minute longer and then he sighed. "Okay, so you're the only person who knows I like to watch gaming videos. And only because you're a sneaky cheater!"

"True," Elizaveta easily admitted. "There was on in particular you liked most, right? Matthew, I think."

Gilbert nodded. "I met his brother a few days ago."

"Okay..." Elizaveta said slowly.

"He was talking to Feli at the cafe and I was sitting there waiting for Antonio to finish bothering Lovino. I looked up and there he was. Didn't recognize him at first, but then Feli turned down his invitation to play video games tonight and said he should invite me instead. And I said yes, like a complete fool!"

"I'm not sure I see the problem. This sounds like the sort of thing you'd enjoy," Elizaveta said, sounding confused.

"It's a group thing. MapleMatthew will be there."

Elizaveta stared at him for a moment as realization slowly dawned on her. "You _like_ him. You think he's cute!"

" _Shhhhh!_ " Gilbert hissed, frantically looking around to make sure no one nearby was listening. "Shut up, Liz!"

Elizaveta giggled. "Sorry. So basically, you've gotten yourself all worked up because you're excited to meet him in person, but now you're imagining everything that could possibly go wrong, no matter how absurd it is. Am I right?"

Gilbert just grumbled something, so she took that to mean she was on the right track.

"Just relax and be yourself, Gil. If you passed Al's testing, then you've already got points in your favor," Elizaveta said confidently.

"Yeah, I guess," Gilbert said. He paused and looked at her with a frown on his face. "I never told you there was a test involved."

"Oh? You didn't?" Elizaveta asked nervously.

"No. I didn't," Gilbert confirmed. "Liz, how the fuck did you know that?"

"Please don't get mad."

" _Elizaveta."_

Elizaveta tapped her foot against the concrete. "I, um, play games with Kiku sometimes. And I've helped him edit videos. So I kind of know the whole group. But I swear I've never mentioned that you watch their videos! I didn't even know you were going until Kiku mentioned it when I was over there the other day." She stopped her tapping. "It seems like they're all really looking forward to meeting you. You can't back down now!"

"...they're really looking forward to it?" Gilbert asked.

"Absolutely!" Elizaveta reassured him.

.

* * *

.

Elizaveta's final word of advice was to make sure he took his own alcohol to Drunk Night or else be subjected to whatever American beer that Alfred kept stocked in the refrigerator. One quick stop at the liquor store later, Gilbert felt as prepared as he was going to get.

He found World Star Apartments with no trouble. It was one of the more recent buildings and was known for being unusually pricey for the small college town. Gilbert had only been there once, back when Elizaveta first moved in with her then-fiance Roderich.

Gilbert stopped in front of room 104, took the time to adjust the shoulder strap of the bag he was carrying his Xbox One in, and then finally knocked on the door.

" _I got it!"_ Someone yelled.

There was the sound of fast footsteps and then the door flew open. A tall man with wild blond hair stood on the other side, looking mildly disappointed. It took Gilbert a moment to recognize him as King_Mathias.

" _Math, who is it?"_ Asked someone else inside the apartment.

"Well, it's not Matt with the pizzas!" He called back over his shoulder. He turned back and looked Gilbert up and down. "So you're Gilbert, yeah? I'm Mathias. C'mon in and we'll get you set up."

Gilbert followed him down the hall, which split open to reveal a kitchen to the right and a large, crowded room to the left. Two long tables were pushed together in the middle of the room, forming a table large enough for eight people and sixteen flat screen monitors to fit comfortably. A smaller desk with a single screen was crammed in a corner, where a boy with hair almost as pale as Gilbert's sat. Alfred and Kiku were also in the room, along with a taller Asian who could have only been pure-originality.

"Alfred, wait, that's not where that goes," Kiku said.

Alfred stopped what he was doing and looked at his friend with a frown on his face. "But this is always how I set up."

"We have to do things differently since there are so many of us. It will be easier to clean up afterward if we keep everything neat and organized." Kiku explained. "Why don't you go join Arthur in the kitchen and send Leon out to us?"

"Yeah!" Pure-originality agreed, popping up from under a table. "Step off, Jones!"

"Yeah, yeah," Alfred muttered, backing away from the electronics. He started to make his way out of the room, speeding up when he caught sight of Gilbert. "Hey, man! Glad you made it! Gimme a sec and I'll be right back!"

Mathias rolled his eyes as Alfred hurried past them into the kitchen. "He won't be back for a while. C'mon, I'll introduce you to our unofficial tech crew."

The two stepped over into the makeshift gaming room, where Kiku politely greeted him and pure-originality stumbled over several chords on his way around the table to exuberantly shake Gilbert's hand.

"I'm Yong Soo! You must be Gilbert! It's so great to finally meet you! That test video you did with Al was amaz-!"

"You made him do a test video?" The boy in the corner interrupted him. "You didn't make me or Leon do that."

"Because you're my friends, duh," Yong Soo responded. He turned his attention back to Gilbert. "He's Emil, by the way. He probably won't contribute much more than sarcastic comments tonight, but that's okay cuz he's mostly here to make sure our equipment doesn't fail. Which it will, so really he's here to fix stuff as it fails"

"You bribed me with liquorice," Emil reminded.

"And I bribed him," Yong Soo said agreeably. "So I think you've met everyone except for Leon and Matt now. Leon should be escaping from the kitchen any second and we sent Matt off to get pizza because none of us want to eat one of Arthur's baking monstrosities, but he should be back soon."

Gilbert looked around the room, feeling more than a little out of place. Everyone else knew each other so well; they had all of those inside jokes and references that he knew he wouldn't be able to keep up with, let alone understand. "So, uh, you have a place for me to put this?" He asked, gesturing to the bag resting at his hip.

Kiku nodded. "Of course. You'll be over here next to me, if that's alright."

For the next few minutes, Gilbert paid strict attention as Kiku walked him through the set-up and then showed him how to work the video capture program. He was so focused on making sure he knew how to do everything correctly, that he didn't hear the front door open. He did, however, hear Mathias's jubilant cry of: "Pizza!"

"Can I please put it down _before_ you start eating this time?"

Gilbert snapped his head up at the familiar voice.

There he was. MapleMatthew, holding a stack of six pizzas and a bag of more food from Pizza Land. Mathias and Yong Soo rushed to greet him and take the boxes away to the kitchen, eliciting a small laugh from their friend.

"Do you think six will be enough?" Kiku asked.

MapleMatthew shrugged. "I got bread sticks too. And if that's not enough, we still have Al's stash of snacks that he thinks I don't know about." Curious purple eyes flickered towards Gilbert.

Gilbert froze as his favorite HetaTuber began to walk towards him with a smile on his face.

"Hi, I'm Matthew."


	4. Chapter 4

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Matthew was even more attractive in person.

Gilbert somehow managed to stumble his way through his own introduction, which involved an excellent maneuver where he knocked a cable off of the table in order to duck down to retrieve it and hide the blush burning its way across his face. It ran the risk of making him look like a clumsy idiot in front of everyone, but it was preferable to them finding out about the nuclear meltdown his brain was going through.

"...first and then we'll go over what we're doing tonight? Or while we're eating. Whichever," Yong Soo said as he pranced back into the room with another Asian in tow. While Yong Soo had a single plate piled with multiple slices of pizza, his friend was carrying two plates with only a few pieces on each. "I figure we should switch it up a little from last week, since that was almost a disaster. I'm really glad you and Emil came back."

"I know. You've told us that, like, five times today."

Gilbert stood up and put the cable back on the table. He felt a little guilt over how thankful he was for the interruption, but he just needed a moment to get himself together. That was all. He could do it. He could get through the night without transforming into even more of a bumbling mess in front of his crush.

He needed a drink. Alcohol always helped, right?

"Gilbert!" Suddenly, Yong Soo was in front of him, still dragging his friend along. It was a miracle neither of them had dropped their food. "Meet Leon! He's helping me host tonight! Mostly because he's the only other person not drinking. Well, aside from Emil, but he doesn't want to play. Which reminds me, everyone else should start drinking so that we're not playing for two hours before the actual drunk gaming starts!"

"Already started!" Mathias called from the kitchen. He reentered the room seconds later, carrying a plate of his own and an oversized mug full of beer. "But seriously, if you want food then you better get in there and get it before Alfred inhales all of it. Pretty sure he's already on his third slice."

"Damn it, Al," Matthew muttered as he rushed into the next room.

Kiku sighed and stood up. "We should go too. Once Alfred starts eating, there's little we can do to stop him. If we don't get ours now, we won't get any."

Gilbert followed the shorter man into the kitchen, where they found Arthur lecturing Alfred on the virtues of _slowing down and chewing his food_. Matthew had snagged a box of pepperoni pizza from the counter in order to keep it away from his younger brother and began splitting it up as evenly as he could.

It was a chaotic mess, especially once the drinks were brought out.

"Kiku, is that sake?" Yong Soo asked with dread in his voice.

" _Hai._ " Before anyone could say another word about it, he left the room with his drink of choice and a plate of pizza.

Yong Soo muttered something unintelligible under his breath and followed after him. "Okay, but you remember what happened last week! Kiku!"

It took some time, but eventually they all got their food and drinks and were able to gather back at the tables of electronics to talk and eat. Yong Soo tried to keep them on topic, but Alfred and Mathias were experts at derailing any topic and they did it with great glee. After several attempts, Yong Soo gave up and announced they'd just "wing it" like they did the week before.

.

* * *

.

"Hey, everyone! Welcome back to Drunk Night! I'm pure-originality and I will once again be your host tonight!" Yong Soo announced to his camera. "And now lets introduce the rest of the group, just in case you're new to this. Starting to my right, we have...!" He dramatically turned and looked at Arthur.

"CaptainKirkland."

Mathias hastily gulped down a swig of his beer and loudly thunked his mug down on the table. "DGMathias here!"

"I'm MapleMatthew."

Kiku hiccuped and turned slightly pink in color. "Apologies. I'm LandofRisingSun."

"And I'm the one, the only, SuperHeroUSA!" Alfred cheered, tossing in his obnoxious laugh for good measure.

Yong Soo stole back control before Alfred could run away with it. "Alright, tonight we have two special guests. Leon is once again borrowing VolcanicFury's system and he'll be helping me out with hosting. We also have with us a newcomer to the world of Hetatubing, so please give a warm welcome to fiveawesomemeters! Say 'hi' to the audience, guys!"

"What audience?" Emil deadpanned from the corner.

Yong Soo jumped at the sound of his friend's voice coming from his headphones. "Emil, what- did you rig up your mic for sound too? When did you do that?!"

"While you were in the kitchen _not_ getting my liquorice."

"I said I was sorry!"

Matthew leaned forward to whisper into his microphone. "And this is how you single-handedly derail a night of drunk gaming. Tune in next week, when we might finally figure out what the hell we're doing."

"Maaaatt, stop it!" Yong Soo whined. "Now we have to start all over. And _you_!" He gave Emil a sour look. "Turn off your mic if you aren't going to play!"

"You're ruining the footage, Yong Soo! I'm not re-syncing this!" Mathias said.

Arthur sighed. "Well clearly we can't leave this in. No want wants to listen to this drivel. Besides, I'm sure Alfred has forgotten to start capture. Again."

"Have not!" Alfred immediately snapped back. He double checked his second monitor anyway, just to be sure.

Kiku leaned over to help him. "Ah, Alfred, you've forgotten t-"

"Yeah, I see it, Kiku."

Matthew sighed and stood up. "Alright, everyone stop. Don't touch anything. Kiku, would you help Al fix his set-up? Everyone else, now's the time to make sure your stuff is running smoothly. We will have to redo the intro, but that's nothing unusual for us."

Twenty minutes and several drink refills later, they were finally getting into the swing of things. Everyone was recording properly and Emil was allowed to keep his microphone on, so they could all hear him if he noticed anything unusual.

Introductions went better the second time around and Yong Soo was able to charge into explaining the game without any unnecessary interruptions.

"We'll be jumping back into our minecraft world tonight! Once you're in, you'll notice a lovely little village with beds, created by me, Emil, and Leon. Just pick whichever one you like best and pop a sign over the door with your name on it and then we can get started," Yong Soo said. "Our goal tonight is to make a ten-by-ten tower reaching all the way up to the build limit! I thought about just using one material, but that could take forever. What was it we came up with instead, Leon?"

"Each layer is five blocks high and then you switch to something else. We can have repeating layers, but there has to be two different materials between them."

Mathias raised his hand and wildly waved it in the air. "Is this a team thing?"

"Sure is!" Yong Soo replied. "Oh, and we're building from sea level. I've already got the spot and the first block picked out! If everyone's ready, lets get started!"

Getting everyone into the game took another minute or two, as Yong Soo had to send out invitations for everyone to join. Gilbert was the second person into the game, right after Matthew, who erupted into giggles the moment he laid eyes on the village lovingly crafted by the three teenagers.

"What the fuck is this?" Gilbert asked, staring at the group of pathetic dirt structures. "They don't even have doors!"

Matthew's giggles turned to full-blown laughter and he had to turn away from his screen to wipe tears away from his eyes.

"We're barely into the game and Matt is already losing it," Alfred muttered, just loud enough for his mic to pick up. "Bro, what the hell- what the fuck is this?"

Gilbert guessed that the world had just loaded for him.

"Will the beds even work in those small spaces?" Kiku asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

Mathias took one look at their living quarters and joined Matthew in laughing.

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "You lads have outdone yourselves. Truly," he said dryly. "You couldn't have given us doors to keep out mobs?"

The three teens all looked very pleased with themselves.

Gilbert directed his character to walk into the dirt block hut and realized a second problem. "It doesn't even have a roof!"

Matthew had to excuse himself to go to the next room and calm down.

"Yeah, go clam your tits, bro!" Alfred yelled after him.

Matthew threw a slipper, but his throw missed its mark by a mile and smacked into the door frame instead.

Slowly, Yong Soo reigned them in. The process went much more smoothly once Matthew returned from his journey to the kitchen and sat back down across from Gilbert. His cheeks were still a little red from laughing so hard, but he no longer looked like he was going to pass out from lack of oxygen, which was what really mattered.

"Okay, so if you'll all follow me to the _real_ village we created..."

.

* * *

.

Three hours in, Gilbert was actually feeling comfortable enough to relax around the group. He could even manage full, coherent sentences when talking to Matthew! Or mostly coherent. He was on his fifth beer, after all.

Or was it the sixth?

"I'm king of the world!" Mathias slurred, tossing in a cheer for good measure.

"Goddammit, stop building pillars out of stuff we need!" Arthur demanded.

It hardly mattered how much he'd had to drink. The others were far too gone to pay attention to his embarrassing mistakes or accidental confessions. He'd made a reference to one of Matthew's old videos at around his fourth beer, but no one noticed a thing.

Gilbert turned his character around in time to watch DGMathias plummet to the ground and land with a sickening _crunch_ before the death message appeared on the left side of the screen.

"Now how are we going to get all of that down, you useless clod!" Arthur demanded.

"I'll just climb up again!"

" _NO!"_

It was too late. Mathias was already stacking up a column of green clay to get back to the top of his tower of brick.

"Hey, I needed that!" Alfred complained. "Do you know how much cactuses I had to burn for that? A lot!"

"Yeah, because _cacti_ are so hard to find. Leon and I have spent the last hour and a half gathering clay balls!" Yong Soo exclaimed.

"Heh. You said ba-"

" _I know what I said!"_ Yong Soo shrilly interrupted.

Gilbert quietly snickered and got back to work on building the monolith to the sky. He turned back around to do so and came face-to-face with a creeper. He shrieked loudly and backpedaled, accidentally pressing in on the left thumb stick and going to third person mode.

Matthew burst out into a peal of laughter and switched back to his usual polar bear skin. "Got you!"

"Asshole," muttered Gilbert. "Be glad I was crouching or else all our shit would be on the ground way down there. And then the drunk dummy next to you would pick it all up and build _another_ useless tower."

"I know, I know," Matthew said, unable to stop himself from smiling. "You weren't paying attention and I could pass up the opportunity."

"You're lucky you're so cute," Gilbert muttered. He froze the moment his brain caught up to his mouth. Inwardly panicking, he raised his eyes to look at Matthew, who only looked slightly surprised.

In the background, Alfred joined forces with Mathias to shatter however little control Yong Soo still had over their game. Leon and Arthur began dismantling Mathias's towers, though it did little good.

"So, you think I'm cute, eh?" Matthew asked.

"I, uh, yeah?"

Six beers. He was definitely on his sixth beer. He was never so stupid on just five.

Matthew laughed softly, not in a mocking way, but a sweet and pleasant one. "Thanks. You're pretty handsome yourself, Gil."

 _Gil._

His heart fluttered at the endearing nickname.

"Yong Soo, I have finished the tower," Kiku spoke up, only slightly slurring his wrods.

Any chance he had to drunkenly (awkwardly) flirt with his crush was lost. Any thoughts of continuing the conversation fled as Gilbert tried to comprehend how Kiku had completed the giant tower when he and Matthew were standing on it.

"Kiku," Yong Soo began cautiously. "How much have you had to drink?"

Gilbert looked over in time to see Kiku fumble to hide one of his bottles of sake.

"Just one."

"Uh huh." Yong Soo did not sound convinced. "Where are you and what have you built this time?"

"Do you want my coordinates?"

"Yes, Kiku. That would be lovely," Yong Soo said, struggling not to yell. "I'm not even going to ask why you weren't building with the rest of us."

"Mathias kept stealing my gold."

Yong Soo sighed. "Of course he did. Okay, give me your coordinates. Just the X and Y."

Kiku said nothing for a long time. " _Ano_..."

"I don't think he has a map," Alfred whispered harshly into his microphone.

"Kik-"

"Ah, there it is!" Kiku exclaimed.

Yong Soo dropped his head into his hands in defeated misery. "How does it always go like this with you?"

"X, one-twenty-seven. Y, negative thirty-two."

"Guess it's time for a group field trip. I've got a map if anyone wants to, like, follow me," Leon said.

"Me!" Mathias shouted, leaping down from his twelfth column. He died by hitting a protruding block along the way, showering Arthur with all of the quartz blocks he was carrying.

Gilbert and Matthew began to arduous process of climbing down the ladders placed all along the side of the large monument. Arthur bought them time by killing Mathias every time he approached the chests containing all of the materials they had collected.

Together, the seven remaining players trekked across the map to reach Kiku. As they got closer, they could make out a wall of pure color stretching way up past the cloud level.

"Is that all _wool_?" Yong Soo asked incredulously. "How did you get all of that? It should have taken you _hours_! I know you haven't been over here the whole time!"

"Isn't this where we built those obsidian vaults of storage?" Emil asked.

Yong Soo dropped his head back into his hands and groaned in frustration.

"The one with all of the rooms and the double chests labeled with signs? I found it a half hour after we started," Kiku said, sounding very pleased with himself.

Alfred, Mathias, Gilbert, and Matthew all started laughing. Even Arthur and Leon chuckled a little, while Emil sat in the corner eating liquorice to try and hide how amused he was.

"Right. Well. That's all we have time for tonight," Yong Soo loudly announced, looking back up at his webcam. "I hope you'll join us next week, when I ban Kiku from drinking sake ever again. Thanks again to Leon and Gilbert for joining us! And to Emil for keeping an eye on things and lending his console for us to use. We are Nighttime Gaming and this is goodnight!"

With a relieved sigh, Yong Soo began to shut down his station, being careful to make sure everything saved before closing it completely. The others took it as their cue to do the same. Matthew moved to the other side of the table to assist Gilbert once he was done with his own.

From there it was just a matter of getting everyone to wind down and get packed up. Leon and Emil took care of most of that, while Yong Soo forced his inebriated friends into the kitchen for a snack.

"It went better than last week, but there's still some stuff we need to work out," Yong Soo admitted. "I think we'll do GTA next week. I should have enough time to make or find something a bunch of us can do." He turned his attention to Kiku, who was swaying slightly as he ate a slice of cold pizza. "I know the whole point is for you guys to get drunk, but I'm serious about putting a limit on the sake."

"Hey, lets do the serious talk tomorrow, 'kay?" Afred requested. "Right now I wanna know how everyone's getting home. I know Art's crashing on the couch and Yong Soo lives right upstairs, but what about you, Gilbert?"

Gilbert jumped, startled at being addressed. "I was going to walk, but..." He looked guiltily at the bottle of beer in his hand. "I'll call a friend. Francis should be able to come get me."

"Cool. Mathias?"

The Dane shrugged. "Figured I'd hitch a ride with Emil and Leon. We live out the same way."

"So, everyone but Kiku has a plan, and he put me in charge of deciding for him, just in case. Yong Soo, would you mind keeping him at your place tonight?" Alfred asked.

Yong Soo nodded. "Of course. I should have an air mattress somewhere..."

"Great!" Alfred exclaimed, pleased. "And Mattie lives here with me, of course, so that's no prob. If you all want to come over around three tomorrow, we can go over the audio and use someone's footage to check if there's anything we can't keep. Sound good?"

There was a low murmur of agreement and then the group began to disperse.

While Gilbert tried to reach Francis, Matthew walked over with a sharpie marker in hand. He grabbed Gilbert's arm, pushed up a sleeve, and uncapped the marker in a flurry of motion, but before Gilbert could ask what he was doing, Francis picked up.

" _It's rather late, mon ami. Is everything alright?"_

"Yeah, just finishing up the game night," Gilbert replied, speaking a little more slowly to make sure his friend could understand him. The feel of Matthew's hand on his arm caused his skin to tingle pleasantly and it wasn't helping the fuzzy feeling in his head. "I didn't wake you, did I? Cuz I kind of need a ride."

Francis was silent for a moment. _"I'll come get you. What's the address?"_

Gilbert quickly rattled it off, somehow able to remember it correctly. He watched with interest as Matthew capped the marker and rolled the sleeve back into place.

" _Huh. I know that place. I'll let you know when I get there. Adieu."_

"All set?" Matthew asked when Gilbert hanged up.

"Yeah. What did you-"

"Yo!" Mathias clapped a hand down on Gilbert's shoulder, causing him to jump. "Sorry, man. Just saying goodbye. My ride's here."

"Does Lukas know this time or is it going to be a surprise for him?" Matthew asked, sounding amused.

"Luke loves surprises!"

"Pretty sure he hates them. Along with that nickname."

Mathias carelessly shrugged. "See you tomorrow!" And then he was gone.

The brief interruption wasn't quite enough to get Gilbert to forget what he was saying, but before he could make a second attempt, a new distraction stole away his attention. He and Matthew stood back and watched as Yong Soo and Alfred coaxed Kiku out of the kitchen to head to the upstairs where Yong Soo lived.

By the time Francis arrived a mere five minutes later, he'd forgotten completely.

.

* * *

.

Gilbert awoke the next morning with a mild headache and a slight feeling of regret. While the headache remained for most of the morning, the regret only lingered until he caught sight of what Matthew had written on his arm.

"I think he likes me, Gilbird," he murmured in utter disbelief.

Clearly written in crisp, dark ink, was Matthew's phone number, followed by a tiny heart.


End file.
